Cubs, an all encompassing trip

Cubs Offense Too Little Too Late as Pirates Take the Series

After scoring 14 runs in the series opener and rolling over the Pirates the Cubs offense disappeared over the last two games. Last night they just barely avoided being no-hit, and today they were shut down for eight innings by Jeff Karstens before rallying in the ninth only to fall short and drop the rubber game to the Pirates 8-4. Travis Wood got the start for the Cubs and was much better than his last few starts, hard to be much worse I guess, but still. Wood worked five innings giving up two runs on three hits while walking three and striking out six. The game stayed close into the eighth, that’s where Shawn Camp’s arm fell off. Okay, he’s not hurt, but he finally had a bad outing, I guess he was due because that never happens. Camp didn’t retire a batter and gave up five runs on seven hits, if you’re going to be bad, be epic bad, it happens. The bright spot in the mess of an eight inning was Alberto Cabrera who was called up today and made his major league debut. Cabrera was electric, working one inning and striking out two hitters, it’s only one outing but it’s a glimpse into the future as Cabrera sets up to be a serviceable major league bullpen arm. Starlin Castro was the lone offense early as he blasted his 11th home run of the season in the first inning, a career high, he finished the day 2-for-5 at the plate. Alfonso Soriano, Jeff Baker, and Bryan LaHair all had two hits in the loss, unfortunately the Cubs couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it early in the game. Full box score and highlights after the jump.

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